Northwest Report

At Boardsports in Eugene, Oregon, Owner Art Couture was stunned at how everything was shipped fairly early this year. The shop was selling boards as early as August, but no one brand or model has stood out as a best seller. The first three companies to ship to Boardsports were Burton, Ride, and M3.

The one thing that did surprise Couture was the splitting of his Ride order. While the Ride boards came earlier in the year, it wasn’t until later that he received the Ride bindings–a lot of customers had to put bindings on hold as a result.

Local companies K2, Ride, and Lib Tech were the first companies to ship to Snowboard Connection in Seattle, Washington. In fact, the K2 shipment came in March–just one month after ordering–a surprise to Owner John Logic. However, Logic was also surprised at how he hadn’t received any K2 softgoods or boots from Ride.

As far as best sellers go, the Clicker HBs have been popular at Snowboard Connection. Also, Lib Tech seems to be doing pretty well–especially with its pro-model snowboards.

Lamar, Random, and Joyride were the first three brands to arrive at Epic Surf, Snow, and Skate inVancouver, Washington. “Everything’s great so far,” says Owner Troy Dorris, who’s looking forward to the upcoming buying season. The biggest seller at Epic so far are backpacks, with Da Kine’s models doing the best.

Manager Tracey “Bird” Veenker says he’s received orders in waves at Cal’s Pharmacy in Portland, Oregon. The first three waves to roll in were from Forum, Burton, and Gnu. “The shipments have been coming in real smoothly in a nice little spread,” says Veenker. This has given him the time to clear floor space in the shop for the upcoming season.

So far, DC boots have been the big hit in the shop. Other standouts include the Burton 7 series, Burton’s Canyon, and the Forum pro-model boards. Veenker predicts that this season is “gonna be a good one for sales and riding.”